1. Field
This disclosure relates to producing silver nanowires. Silver nanowires can be used for electrical conductive membranes, circuit lines, conductive fibers, microelectrodes and sensors.
2. Background
Materials in nano-size exhibit properties remarkably different from their analogous bulk materials, which correlate strongly to their size, shape and morphology. As a result, materials scientists have been focusing on developing simple and effective methods for preparing and fabricating nanomaterials with controllable shapes, sizes and morphology, hence tailoring their properties. As a key material which has been extensively studied in their optical, electrical, thermal and mechanical properties, nano-sized silver has drawn considerable attention from materials scientists. Silver nanowires, which exhibit 1D anisotropy, show great values in various industrial, military, sanitary, and biomedical applications. Thus there is an urgent need in larger scale and lower cost production of them.